Winner
by JustArisu
Summary: Tess Tyler was a winner. There were no ifs or buts about it. If she wanted something she’d get it, no matter what it took. And if there was anything she’d wanted, it was Shane Gray. Slightly AU. Goes with my other story.


Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Camp Rock.

Tess Tyler was a winner. There were no ifs or buts about it. If she wanted something she'd get it, no matter what it took. And if there was anything she'd wanted, it was Shane Gray. She was willing to do anything it took, from wearing green because it was his favorite color to screaming during Caitlyn's performance so he wouldn't see how good she was. It didn't matter what it was, if she had an idea that would help him notice her and not other girls, she'd follow through. Which was why she hadn't had any qualms about exposing Mitchie's lie to the whole camp in the cruelest way possible. She knew she'd acted like a bitch but it had been worth it to see the crushed expression on Mitchie's face. What were the feelings of one insignificant girl compared to getting her heart's desire? It had been even more worth it when she overheard Shane's conversation with Brown.

She had to admit that when she heard him sing the first part of Mitchie's song she'd been shocked beyond belief. What was it about that girl that attracted Shane so much? He hadn't even known that she was the "girl with the voice" yet he had connected with her, not any of the much prettier, much richer girls at camp—namely herself. So maybe Mitchie _was_ a good singer (and god, she'd die before she admitted that to anyone, even though she knew it was true) but Shane didn't know that. Tess was almost positive that Mitchie had never sang anything to Shane… she hadn't the times that she'd followed and watched them at least.

While she was confident that she'd be able to knock some sense into him and make him like her instead of Mitchie as soon as he spent some time with her, she hadn't come this far by not having a back up plan for everything, no matter how confident she was. All of camp knew how much Shane wanted to find "the girl with the voice." That meant it would make him really happy to find her. And obviously he'd be really happy to find out that it was Tess Tyler, not that nobody Mitchie Torres. Honestly. The daughter of a hardware store owner and a cook? Give the girl a break. Oh wait. Obviously no one did.

So Tess devised a plan. She had heard Mitchie and Caitlyn practicing and knew that it would ruin everything. Somehow she had a feeling that Shane would forgive Mitchie if he knew she was the girl with the voice. All those years of getting what she wanted gave her an instinctive feel for things that could ruin everything. In this case, it hadn't been Shane Mitchie had been lying to. She had been lying in an attempt to fit in at camp. That thought brought a smirk to Tess' face. Intimidating Mitchie into joining the group had been one of the best moves she'd made. And the bracelet incident was a stroke of genius, if she did say so herself.

It had been the perfect way to insure that Mitchie would not be performing at the talent show. Better yet, Caitlyn wouldn't either. Even if she wasn't planning on singing Mitchie's song, the two of them were the only ones with the slightest chance of upstaging her. The other people were good… but their style was different and Tess was obviously better.

Tess had always been better. Ever since she realized that being the best at everything was the only thing that would make her mother give her even a second of her time. And god she lived for those milliseconds in which her mother, her beautiful mother, would look at her, smile, pat her head and say absentmindedly, "Good job Tess."

How fucking pathetic. She lived for seconds in which her mother treated her like a good pet who hadn't had an accident or something. What did that say about her life?

But it didn't matter. Just having her mother pay attention to her was enough. As long as she didn't look at her with disgust, as she had that time at Tess' very first ballet performance. She was five, and scared out of her mind, and had run off stage crying. Tess would do anything to never see that look on her mother's face again.

So here she was… the last performer of the night, with no Mitchie to upstage her. Tess turned to look at the mirror, critically appraising her appearance. Her eyeliner was dark and dramatic, playing up her blue eyes. Not wanting to overdo it, she had gone for clear lip gloss. The glitter she had sprinkled in her golden hair sparkled even under the dim backstage lighting. She looked perfect. And she was ready. Ready to take what truly belonged to her.

When she stepped off the stage it was with a smug smile on her face. She had seen the look on Shane's face and knew that he recognized the song. It had almost made up for that text her mother had sent earlier. Surprise, surprise. Pushing the pain that always accompanied the thought of her mother out of her mind, Tess walked over to the mirror, looking over her reflection critically. It looked like her lip gloss had come off during the song. She reached for the tube on top of the dresser and carefully reapplied it. Finished, she glanced at her watch and smiled, sure that Shane would be coming soon. The smile turned into a smirk when she caught a flicker of movement in the mirror. Speak of the rock star.

"Tess!"

She carefully wiped the smirk from her face before she turned around to face THE Shane Gray, asking sweetly, "Yes Shane?"

He was standing mere inches away from her, an intense look in his eyes. She suppressed her giddiness and waited for him to reply. She wasn't, however, prepared for the words that came out of his mouth, "Where did you get that song?"

Hiding her confusion—why wasn't he smiling at her and saying he was glad he'd found her?—she lied, saying shyly, as if she was a little embarrassed, "I wrote it."

She almost stepped back at the anger snapping in his dark brown eyes after her blatant lie. For a split second she wondered if her plan had failed. But then he asked pleasantly, the anger gone so quickly she wondered if she'd imagined it, "So when did you write it? I heard you singing it here at camp before, but I can't remember when. It wasn't at any of the Jams was it?"

She bit her lip, trying hard not to panic, her mind racing to come up with a suitable answer, "Oh I've been practicing it all week! I wrote it after the Pajama Jam."

She definitely hadn't imagined the anger. And she'd obviously said the wrong thing. Shane's eyes darkened with anger and he snapped, "Stop lying to me Tess. I heard that song on the first day I got to camp. And it wasn't you that was singing it. The song is amazing but it was the girl singing it that made it stick in my head. Who did you steal it from? Tell me!"

Widening her eyes innocently—she had decided that pretending she didn't know what he was talking about was the best course of action—she replied, "Are you going crazy? What are you talking about? That's my song!!"

She barely bit back a gasp when he clenched his fists, taking a small step forward. She stepped back quickly, stumbling slightly as she backed into the dresser. Clutching the edge of the dresser tightly, she straightened her back and wiped any trace of fear away. He spoke quietly, his voice all the more frightening for the tight control it was obvious he was exercising, "I want to know who wrote that song. That is not a question. I need to find that girl!"

She felt like something was tightening around her chest, constricting her breath. In that second she felt everything slipping away from her. She knew she'd lost all hope of getting close to Shane Gray but she'd be damned if she'd let that nobody Mitchie Torres win! Making a quick decision she deliberately took a long slow breath and lifted her chin defiantly. An ugly smile, filled with jealousy and malice curved her lips, "Good luck with that one."

The devastation in his expression was obvious and she almost relented, guilt fighting to the surface. A split second before she was about to open her mouth, however, Shane said softly, the threat in his voice clear, "I will find out without you telling me… but I'm warning you to stay the hell away from me. I will never forget that you tried to deceive me."

He spun around and left, leaving her standing there, a blank expression on her face. She could hear her mother's voice in her head, her face twisted in anger. "You're a fucking failure Tess. A failure. How the hell did I end up with a failure like you for a daughter?"

She crumbled to the floor, the hot tears pricking at her eyes and threatening to overflow. But she wouldn't give in to the urge to cry. She couldn't. She was better than that. Oh who was she trying to fool. She wasn't better than that. She drew her knees up to her chest, hugging them tightly against her body and buried her head, uncontrollable sobs wracking her body.

Tess Tyler was a failure.

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A/N: So I actually really like Tess. I think she does have a heart and becomes a genuinely good person at the end of Camp Rock. But this is sort of a companion to my other story, so this is how it needed to work. I wanted to end the story when Tess said Good luck… but it didn't really want to end there. I couldn't have Tess be a total bitch. Lol. Hope you enjoy! Sorry I haven't updated my other story, if you read that. I'm probably going to put it on hiatus. I really don't have the time to be writing a full story. I've had a million and a half one shots floating through my head so hopefully I'll get more of those up! Thanks for reviewing!


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